ISTE 2011 Philadelphia- my takeaway menu

As a second time visitor to ISTE I felt pretty confident that I would be able to learn a lot, meet new people and be amazed. I did accomplish all of the above, but wish I had more time, had networked more and had attended more presentations. Not to mention that I did not spend any time at the Bloggers’ cafe. That said I would still like to share my top 3!

Keynote speaker Dr. John Medina Author of the New York Times bestseller Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School started the conference with an inspiring keynote. Medina talked about attention. We don’t pay attention to boring things. “If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. And if you wanted to change things, you might have to tear it down and start over,” he says. Citing studies that show the brain is incapable of multitasking when it comes to concentration, Medina contends that multitasking itself is a myth. Humans can talk and breathe, but when it comes to higher-level tasks, they can’t do them simultaneously. See keynote here on YouTube! (start it at 30 minutes) You might also want to listen to reactions from the audience.

Kevin Honeycutt was the keynote speaker at the international leadership symposium on Sunday. I also had the chance to talk to him and see him present on the 29th. Check out his website. You will find a lot of useful material and links. Some of what I noted down; I’m smart but my network is brilliant. Hook them and cook them, show the students something new and interesting, get their attention. It is about relationships and respect. We don’t know what the future looks like, kids have to love to learn, learn and unlearn all the time allowing them to work on interesting projects.They are writing their digital legacy what will it say about them? Think about that when you are talking with your students .How many people typically read what our kids write? Only the teacher probably, when you write blogs you can have many readers.What is you motivation for writing when only one person reads it.A possible start is LULU start publishing for free, excite them about it.

Closing keynote by Chris Lehman. I was looking forward to the closing keynote because Chris Lehman is an amazing principal and I had the chance to talk to several of his students. I also attended some of his sessions at ISTE 2010 in Denver. From his keynote: “We need to teach the students to ask powerful questions, seek out answers but not those answers we already have in our heads, but the answers we have never thought of. It is about passion and caring. At his school they all are treated like family! See the full length keynote here including poems from students! Worth watching! Start at 33 minutes! Read one of the poems here!

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